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The Early Years of Brown University 

1 764-1770 

William Williams Keen, M.D., LL.D. 



The Early Years of Brown University 

1764-1770^ 

By William Williams Keen, M.D., LL.D. 

of Philadelphia (Class of 1859) 

INFANCY always appeals to us. The confiding help- 
lessness of a young life arouses our chivalry. The 
many and constant perils besetting especially its early 
years excite our sympathy. The splendid possibilities 
enwrapped in it kindle our imagination. If we live long 
enough to see its weakness change to strength ; its abili- 
ties develop ; its character unfold, and its influence grow 
so that it becomes a power in the land, well may we 
rejoice over the strong man that he is, and review with 
absorbing interest the early days of the child that he 
was. This is my pleasant task to-day — to recount the 
history of the first six years in the life of Brown Uni- 
versity. 

It is peculiarly congenial to me, for in 1 762 the " first 
mover " in the enterprise, as he rightly calls himself, 
was Morgan Edwards, the pastor of my own church, 

* Address delivered in the Baptist Church at Warren, October 13, 1914. 

Rhode Island College was incorporated in 1764, and located at Warren. The 
Baptist Church in Warren, of which James Manning, the first President of the 
college, was also minister, was founded at the same time. The college was re- 
moved to Providence in 1770. In 1804 the name was changed to Brown Uni- 
versity. 

In my references I have often quoted Mr. Guild's volumes because they are 
widely accessible, instead of the University archives, which can only be consulted 
in Providence. Mr. Guild's Brmvn Uni-uersity and Manning must not be con- 
founded with his Manning and Brmvn Uni-uersity. 

When I was preparing this address Professor Bronson's History of Brmvn Uni- 
■versity had not been published. By his kindness I saw and profited greatly by 
the manuscript of the early part relating to the history of the University while in 
Warren. Since the celebration I have had the great pleasure of reading the entire 
book since published, and have added a few footnotes referring to his text. 

C 1 ] 



The Early Years of 

the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia. The first stu- 
dent of the University, William Rogers, became pas- 
tor of my own church, and married my grandpar- 
ents in 1 788. In 1 790 Thomas Ustick, of the third class 
(1771), while our pastor, baptized my grandfather. 
Henry Holcombe, of the class of 1800 (hon.), while 
pastor of our church, married my parents in 1823. Wil- 
liam T. Brantly, of the class of 1831 (hon.), another 
pastor of our church, baptized my parents in that same 
year. George Dana Boardman,of the class of 1852, and 
George Hooper Ferris, of the class of 1891 , have been 
my pastors and warm personal friends. 

In Brown University I obtained my own education 
and inspiration, for which I owe a debt of gratitude that 
I can never repay. Up College Hill fifty-five years 
ago proudly marched my classmates and I singing our 
"Song of Degrees." Forty-one years ago I was hon- 
ored by an election to the Corporation of the University. 
Since then I have taken part in the election of one hun- 
dred members of the Corporation, including all (forty- 
six ) of the present members of the Corporation, except- 
ing myself and one other, and fifty-four others who have 
all passed away save one, who resigned. I have known 
all its presidents save the first three. Is it any wonder 
that I feel so deeply an hereditary and personal interest 
in this ancient University .f* 

In view of the fact that Professor Bron son's new His- 
tory of the University deals at length with the Charter, 
the removal to Providence, and other questions which 
aroused much controversy in their day, and as our dis- 
tinguished alumnus, Mr. Justice Hughes, is to give the 
principal Historical Address, I shall only make allusions 
to these other well-known historical events. My chief 

C ^ ] 



Bj transfer 



Brown University 

endeavor will be to set forth the local conditions, man- 
ners, and customs existing in Warren and Providence 
from the beginning of the University, including 1770, 
the date of the second commencement. I include this 
second commencement, although it was held in Provi- 
dence, because practically all the work of that class was 
done in Warren. 

I must disarm criticism, and especially from a War- 
ren audience, by disclaiming in advance any desire to 
expose and emphasize the faults and foibles of our pre- 
decessors. But conditions one hundred and fifty years 
ago were very different from those of to-day, and they 
are a necessary frame for the picture. I have drawn a 
similar picture in the Bicentenary History of my own 
Philadelphia church ^ without offense, and I feel sure 
that here, too, I shall find the same friendly forbear- 
ance. The failings which I mention were the faults of 
the times. The individuals were only a few examples 
out of many. I have ventured to introduce an occasional 
touch of humor to lighten what would otherwise be a 
dull recital of mere historical facts. 

The nascent years of the University were filled with 
the increasing mutterings of political discontent which 
soon found expression in the Revolutionary War, and 
each recurring semi-centenary, strange to say, has been 
similarly marked by war. Our first, in 1814, occurred 
before the end of the War of 1812; in 1864, our full 
century arrived during the bloody crisis of the Civil 
War. In both these emergencies Brown loyally bore its 
part. In 1 914, at our third half-century, peace in Mexico 

' Vide, e.g., Letters of John Gano and Others, pp. 34, 58, 62, 66 ; Manners and 
Customs, pp. 149, 180, in the Bicentennial Celebration of the Founding of the 
First Bafitist Church of Philadelphia, 1898, edited by W. W. Keen. 

C 3 ] 



The Early Years of 

is still trembling in the balance, and war has " raised its 
horrid front" in Europe in more terrible form than ever 
before in history. Thank God that the healing wounds 
of my own guild are for the saving of human hves and 
not for their destruction. 

Chronologically Brown ranks the seventh of the nine 
colleges established prior to the Revolution, viz. : 

1. Harvard University 1636 Congregational 

2. College of William and Mary 1692 Episcopalian 

3. Yale University 

4. University of Pennsylvania 

5. Princeton University 

6. Columbia University 

7. Brovi^n University 

8. Rutgers College 

9. Dartmouth College 

Morgan Edwards, pastor of the First Baptist Church 
of Philadelphia, the '* first mover" in the matter, was 
born in Wales in 1722. He was "bred a Churchman," 
but became a Baptist in 1 738. He reached Philadelphia 
May 23, 1 761 .^ He was one of those men whose arrival 
anywhere meant that the "wheels began to go round," 
and things began to be done. In our own church he 
started the "Minute Book" in his copperplate hand- 
writing, and also our " Marriage Book," which contains 
a complete record of all the marriages by our ministers 
for one hundred and fifty-three years.^ He was very 
influential in the Philadelphia Baptist Association and 
other church activities. When moderator of the Associa- 



1701 


Congregational 


1740 


Episcopalian 


1746 


Presbyterian 


1754 


Episcopalian 


1764 


Chiefly Baptist 


1766 


Dutch Reformed 


1769^ 


Episcopalian 



' The Seal of Dartmouth is dated 1770. 

^ Fide his Autobiography, in his Materials for a History of the Bafitists in Penn- 
sylvania, 1770, vol. i, pp. 47-49. 

^ For these and other details, see my Bicentenary History of the First Baptist 
Church. 

C 4 ] 



Brown University 

tion he was not only the first to propose, in 1762, the 
founding of a college, but later was active in obtaining 
the charter; procured more funds for the college when 
it sorely needed them than any one else; served on 
the original Board of Fellows for twenty-five years; 
and preached at the first commencement ( 1769). He 
published " Materials towards a History of the Ameri- 
can Baptists/'^four volumes of a series of twelve, which 
he projected but never completed. 

Most fitting is it, therefore, that our Philadelphia 
alumni will honor his name by establishing the " Mor- 
gan Edwards Fellowship" by a gift of over 1 10,000 
on this the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the 
University which owes its birth to him. 

Like all the early American colleges. Brown arose 
especially from the need and the desire for an educated 
ministry. In England, out of two hundred Baptist min- 
isters only thirty or forty could read the Greek Tes- 
tament, and only seven or eight in America were lib- 
erally educated.^ Among those were Morgan Edwards 
and James Manning. The mass of the Baptists were in- 
different or hostile to ministerial education. "The Bap- 
tists of the Philadelphia Association had long since taken 
the lead in all that pertained to the elevation of the 
character and dignity of the denomination, and their in- 
fluence had been profoundly felt in New England and 
the South. "^ As earlyasi722 Rev. Abel Morgan, in that 
Association, was the leader in a movement for an acad- 

' Vol. i, Philadelphia, 1770; vol. ii, Philadelphia, 1792; vol. iii, "Delaware," 
in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biografihy, vol. ix, pp. 45 and 
197, reprinted also by Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, 1885 ; vol. iv, " Rhode 
Island," in the Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society, vol. vi. 

Sears, Centennial Discourse, 1864, p. 8. 

' Newman, History of Ba/itist Churches in the United States, p. 380. 

c 5 : 



The Early Years of 

emy — a proposal that failed owing to Morgan's death. 
In 1756 the Association founded the academy at Hope- 
well, New Jersey. James Manning, Hezekiah Smith, 
Samuel Stillm an, Samuel Jones, and John Gano, all so 
actively identified with the founding of Brown ; David 
Howell, the second professor at Brown ; and Charles 
Thompson and William Williams, of the first graduat- 
ing class, were all educated at Hopewell Academy. 

In 1762 there were but sixty Baptist churches and 
only five thousand members in all the colonies. In 1 770, 
in Rhode Island, the books used in the schools were the 
Bible, the spelling book, and the primer. "When one 
had learned to read, write, and do a sum in the rule 
of three he was fit for business.''^ So vague and naive 
was the knowledge of geography that Rhode Island 
was once described as located "in the West Indies in 
America."^ The minister especially needed to be edu- 
cated, for he was by far the foremost man in the com- 
munity ; the doctor and the lawyer, his near neighbors, 
yielding him the pas.^ 

The meticulous exactness of theological 6^//^ which 
was then deemed a test of orthodoxy is shown, for ex- 
ample, in a circular letter preserved among the archives 
of the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia, which be- 
gins thus: 

" The Church of Christ meeting in Upperfreehold, in 
the County of Monmouth, New Jersey. Holding Eter- 
nal Election, perticular Redemption, Irresistable grace 

^ Reminiscences of Samuel Thurber, in Staples's Annals of Providence, pp. 600- 
607. 

° Tolman, " History of Higher Education in Rhode Island," in United States Bu- 
reau of Education, Circular JVo. 1, 1893, p. 24. 

' For a graphic account of the minister, see McMaster, History of the People of 
the United States, vol. i, pp. 31 et seqq. 

C 6 ] 



Brown University 

in Effectual Calling, and final perseverance in grace, 
( also the Baptism of professing Believers only, by Im- 
mersion only,)" etc. 

It is curious that ''the baptism of professing be- 
lievers only" and the method "by immersion only" 
seem, by their parenthetical position, to be quite sub- 
ordinate to the other theological dogmas announced in 
this paragraph.^ On the other hand, orthodox conduct 
was less common. Tustin ^ notes the painful fact that in 
the first eighty years of the life of the Warren church 
ten per cent of the whole membership had been per- 
manently excluded. In the History of my own church 
( 1698-1898 ) I also noted the large number of exclu- 
sions of both men and women for drunkenness, pro- 
fanity , and immorality . In Warren, in 1 769, to curb pro- 
fanity and other evil practices, the town ordered two pil- 
lories, one of which at least was set up on the sidewalk, 
so that no one could miss seeing it and its occupant.^ 

Conditions were very primitive. In 1 775 there were 
only thirty-seven newspapers in the whole country: 
fourteen in New England, four in New York, nine in 
Pennsylvania, leaving only ten for all the other colo- 
nies.* Women still rode on pillions. Letters were often 
sent by hand even after the post-office passed into 
Franklin's charge; they were "to be left at Mr. West- 
cott's," or " care of John Holmes at the Sign of George 
Washington," a tavern, for the recipient. It was so well 

* Keen, Bicentenary History, p. 34. 

^ Discourse at the Dedication of the J^ew Church Edifice of the Bafitist Church 
and Society, Warren, by Josiah P. Tustin, Pastor, Providence, 1845, pp. 140, 
141. 

' Fessenden, History of Warren, Rhode Island, p. 89, in the Supplement to Tus- 
tin 's Dscourse. 

* McMaster, o/i. cit., vol. i, p. 27. 

C 7 : 



The Early Years of 

known that the post-riders read the letters that, for a 
long time after the Revolution, letters were often writ- 
ten in cipher.^ 

When Morgan Edwards first proposed a college he 
was laughed at as a visionary, but after the college was 
actually started, the Philadelphia Association, in 1764, 
1774, and 1782 ^ warmly recommended it to the sup- 
port of the Baptist churches. They appealed not only 
to Baptists, but " to all the friends of literature in every 
denomination." 

Moreover, the Association aided early Philadelphia 
students. In 1 767 a Mrs. Hobbs left a legacy of £350 
to the Association, and immediately the Association 
directed that ^14 should be paid toward the educa- 
tion of Charles Thompson, of the class of 1 769, the sec- 
ond pastor of the Warren church. Usually ( 1 767, 1 769, 
1771, 1773) the grant was made on condition that 
the beneficiary give what seems now a frank, but un- 
usual, bond *'to return the money in case the Asso- 
ciation should be disappointed in him!" In 1769 the 
sum of ^14 was voted for Thomas Ustick, of the class 
of 1771. The next year application was made by both 
Ustick and Vanhorn, but Vanhorn was preferred. 

After carefully weighing the desirability of various 
colonies, especially South Carolina and Rhode Island, 
as a location for the proposed college, the latter was se- 
lected on account of the absolute liberty of conscience 
which obtained there, and of the large proportion of 
Baptists in the colony and in its government. 

The charter was not obtained " in February, 1 764," 
as is often stated. The General Assembly, it is true, met 

McMaster, o/i. cit., vol. i, p. 40. 
^ Gillette, Minutes of the Philadelfihia Bafitist Association, pp. 91, 135, andlSl. 

C 8 ] 



Brown University 

by adjournment in East Greenwich upon **the last 
Monday of February, 1 764," but the charter passed the 
lower house on March 2, the upper house on March 
3, 1764, and was ordered to be signed, sealed, and 
registered. The governor did not actually sign it until 
October 24, 1765.^ Meantime, however, the Corpora- 
tion met in Newport on September 5, 1764, and again 
on September 4, 1765. On this date (before the gov- 
ernor had actually signed the charter ) the President was 
elected, and a Faculty, consisting solely of the Presi- 
dent, was chosen to guide the student body which had 
already existed for twenty-four hours in the person 
of William Rogers, a boy fourteen years of age. The 
President was James Manning, who had graduated at 
Princeton three years before ( 1 762 ) , and was not yet 
twenty-seven years of age. 

The fundamental liberality of the charter, which, 
though written in the middle of the eighteenth century, 
breathes the spirit of the twentieth, is shown in a num- 
ber of its provisions: ( 1 ) The inclusion of four denomi- 
nations, instead of making the Corporation consist only 
of Baptists. The prescribing of the exact number allotted 
to each denomination was evidently intended not only 
to prevent the non-Baptists from ousting the Baptists, 
but also to prevent any effort of the Baptists to oust the 
non-Baptists, either of which might easily have been 
feared in that age of bitter sectarianism. ( 2 ) By what 
is quite as striking, the opening of the positions of all 
grades of teachers, with the sole exception of the Presi- 
dent, to all denominations, and the absolute and total 
exclusion of any religious test. (3) By what, as Pro- 
fessor Bronson has pointed out, is an especially marked 

' Charter of Brmvn University, with Index, p. 12. 

C 9 ] 



The Early Years of 

peculiarity of Brown, the exclusion from the courses 
of public instruction of all teaching of "sectarian dif- 
ferences of opinion," and that "youth of all religious 
denominations" shall be on an equal footing in every 
respect.^ 



^ This fundamental difference in the studies at Brown and at Yale (an excellent 
type of the early colleges) is well shown by the following extracts from Dexter's 
Yale Biografihies and Annals, the I'eference to which was kindly furnished me by 
Dr. Anson Phelps Stokes. (See also his just -pvihWsh^tA. Memorials of Eminent Yale 
Men.) The study of Divinity, of Hebrew, the "repeating of sermons" (let us 
hope that ' ' repeating ' ' indicates that the sermons were not their own) , the recit- 
ing of Wolebius's and Ames's Theology and the shorter catechism, etc., show 
that the teaching of ' ' sectarian differences of opinion, ' ' which was absolutely ban- 
ished from the class-rooms at Brown, was then required at Yale — a condition long 
since abolished. The stress laid upon Hebrew, as well as Latin and Greek, may 
explain the fact that President Stiles at Yale once delivered an oration in Hebrew, 
Chaldaic, and Arabic (Sears, loc. cit., p. 27) . Undoubtedly it was a rather start- 
ling exhibition of learning. Whether it profited the audience Dr. Sears does not 
venture to state. 

The following is the course of study at Yale in 1 71 4, as given by Benjamin Lord : 

' ' Books of the Languages and Sciences recited in my Day were TuUy and 
VirgU, but without any notes: Burgersdicius and Ramus's Logick, also Heere- 
bord's set Logic, &c. ; Pierson's manuscript of Physicks, &c., I have no copy 
of. We recited the Greek Testament ; knew not Homer, &c. ; recited the Psalms 
in Hebrew : . . . We recited Ames' Medulla on Saturdays, and also his cases 
of Conscience sometimes ; the two upper classes used to dispute syllogistically 
twice or thrice a week. ... As for the Mathematicks, we recited and studied 
but little more than the rudiments of it, some of y*^ plainest things in it." [This 
included surveying.] Dexter, Yale Biographies and Annals, vol. i, pp. 115, 116. 

The course of study as copied from the [Yale] College Rules by a Freshman in 
November, 1726, is as follows: 

"All undergraduates except freshmen, who shall Read english into Greek, 
shall Read some part of y*^ old testament out of Hebrew into Greek In y* morn- 
ing, and shall turn some part of y*^ new testament out of y^ english or lattin into 
y^ Greek att evening att y*^ time of Recitation before tiiey begin to Recite y* 
original tongues. 

' ' All undergraduates shall publickly Repeat sermons in y'= hall in tlieir Course, 
and also batchellors, and be Constantly examined on sabbaths at evening prayer. 

' ' All students shall after they have Done resciting Rhetorick and ethicks on 
fridays recite Wolebius' theology and on Saturday morning they shall Rescite 
Ames theologie thesis in his Medulla, and on Saturday evening y*= Assemblies 
shorter Chatechism in Lattin and on Sabbath Day attend y*^ explication of Ames's 
Cases of Conscience. 

"In y^ first year after admission on y*^ four first days of y*^ week aU students 
shall be exercised in y*^ Greek and Hebrew tongues, onely b^inning logick in 
y'^ morning att y'' latter end of y*^ year unless their tutors see cause by Reason 
of their Ripeness in y^ tongues to Read logick to them sooner ; they shall spend 
y^ second year in logick with y*^ exercise of themselves in y*^ tongues ; y^ third 



Brown University 

Specific instances showing how Brown lived up to 
these fine promises are most instructive. September 6, 
1 770, the Corporation voted " that the children of Jews 
may be admitted into this Institution and entirely enjoy 
the freedom of their religion without any constraint or 
imposition whatever." In 1774 the Seventh Day Bap- 
tists were exempted from the law requiring attendance 
at church on Sunday. The Quakers were also exempted 
from the law which prohibited the students from wear- 
ing their hats within the college walls. ^ 

In 1769 the Faculty was enlarged by the addition 
of David Howell (already for three years a tutor) 
as "Professor of Natural Philosophy." He taught until 

year principally in phisicks : and y^ fourth year in metaphisicks and mathemat- 
icks still Carrying on y" former studies : but in all Classes y" last Days of y* 
week are allowed perpetually for Rhetorick, oratory and Divinity and in teach- 
ing of both tongues, and Arts, and such authors are to be used as shall be ap- 
proved of by y*^ Rector and tutors. . . . 

"No scholar shall use y'^ enghsh tongue in y'' CoUedge with his fellow schol- 
ars unless he be called to publick exercise proper to be attended in y^ English 
tongue but schoUars in their Chambers and when they are togetlier shall talk 
Lattin." Dexter, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 348. 

[The 36th law of Rhode Island College in 1774 reads : " In the hours of study 
[i.e. nearly all day] no one shall speak to another in the College or the College 
yard except in Latin." Guild, Brown University and Manning, p. 270.] 

Entrance Examinations and Course of Study at Yale in 1745 : " In the first 
Year They Shall principally Study the Tongues & Logic, and Shall in Some 
measure pursue the Study of the Tongues the Two next Years. In the Second 
Year They Shall Recite Rhetoric, Geometry and Geography. In the Third 
Year Natural Philosophy, Astronomy and Other Parts of the Mathematicks. 
In the Fourth Year Metaphysics and Etliics, but every Saturday shall Espe- 
cially be aUoted to the Study of Divinity, and the Classes Shall dureing the whole 
Term recite the Westminster Confession of Faith . . . and on Friday Each 
Undergraduate in his Order about Six at a Time Shall Declaim in the Hall in 
Latin, Greek, or Hebrew." Dexter, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 5. 

At the College of William and Mary the ecclesiastical influence was still 
more marked. The President was a salaried "Commissary of the Bishop of 
London," and most of the early professors were "incumbents of neighboring 
churches." One decree even so late as 1769 was almost monastic. "The privi- 
leges of a wife and family were accorded to the President alone. . . . Filtering 
into marriage . . . ipso facto vacated the office of any Professor." Address of 
President Lyon G. Tyler, December 5, 1 904, before the Phi Beta Kappa Society 
at William and Mary College. 

' Guild, Brown University and Manning, pp. 265-267. 

c 11 n 



The Early Years of 

the war closed the college.^ The third member of the 
Faculty was Joseph Brown, Howell's successor, who 
resumed the teaching of Natural Philosophy in 1 784, 
shortly after the war ended. The fourth was the cele- 
brated Benjamin Waterhouse, M.D., who taught Nat- 
ural History from 1781 to 1791. 

Waterhouse was a Newport boy, a nephew of Dr. 
John Fothergill, of London, who, as will soon be seen, 
was an early benefactor of the college through Mor- 
gan Edwards. Waterhouse was perhaps the most highly 
educated physician of his day in this country. With 
John Warren and Aaron Dexter he founded the Har- 
vard Medical School in 1 782-83,^ and was noted as the 
first to introduce vaccination into America. He served 
on the Board of Fellows of Brown for thirteen years 

(1782-95).^ 

This insistence on Science was in accordance with 
the charter, which decreed that " the public teaching 
shall in general respect the sciences. "The scientific sub- 
jects actually taught are not exactly known, but proba- 
bly they differed somewhat, by subtraction, from those 

^ Professor Goddard in hi^ Memoir of President Manning (p. 6) says of Howell : 
"Except however as a tutor we have never heard that he participated in the 
ordinary duties of academical instruction." That Howell never delivered any 
lectures on law during the thirty- four years he held that professorship (1790- 
1824) is generally admitted, but in his letter of resignation, dated March 11, 
1779 (Guild, Brown University and Manning, p. oil), he says: "Although 
experimental philosophy was the direct object of my profession, yet "other 
branches of learning were devolved upon me." Guild (p. 68) says that these 
"other Branches" were French, German, and Hebrew. Moreover, in his letter 
of resignation, he declares that he is unwilling to receive " the emoluments of 
office without discharging its duties, "and the records of the Corporation show 
(pp. 57, 60, 62, 66) that he received a salary when tutor of from £.25 to £,72, 
which was increased to £90, and later (l 774) to£lOO (all lawful money) , during 
his professorship. 

' See Oliver Wendell Holmes's delightful Address at the Centenary of the Har- 
vard Medical School. 

' In the John Carter Brown Library is an undated broadside of a syllabus of his 
lectures at Brown and Harvard. 

C 12 3 



Brown University 

taught in 1783 (when '* science" included geography, 
arithmetic, algebra, Euclid, trigonometry, surveying, 
navigation, and astronomy ), and by addition also, under 
Waterhouse at least. At that time the college spent 
about =£700 "lawful money "on the philosophical appa- 
ratus and the library, one-half of which was given by 
John Brown.^ Even with this addition, however, the phi- 
losophical and astronomical apparatus could hardly 
have been compared with the fine collections at Har- 
vard ( destroyed by fire in 1 764 ), Yale, and especially 
at William and Mary.^ 

The first meeting of the Corporation was held on 
Wednesday, September 5, 1764, in Newport. Of the 
forty-seven members of the Corporation named in the 
charter (one place was purposely left vacant for the 
future President), only twenty-eight had qualified.^ Of 
the twenty-eight, twenty-four were present ; certainly 
a very good attendance, especially in view of the then 
diflficulties of travel. They were a distinguished com- 
pany,* headed by the Chancellor, Hon. Stephen Hop- 
kins, chief justice, governor, member of the Continental 
Congress, and signer of the Declaration of Independ- 

Guild, Brown University and Manning, p. 347. 

I had collected considerable material towards a comparison of the teaching of 
science in the nine American colleges founded before the Revolution, but greatly 
to my regret I am obliged to omit it on account of the great length of time and 
space required for even a partially adequate treatment of tlie subject. Those inter- 
ested will find in the histories of the individual colleges a great deal of informa- 
tion. To these I would add the valuable series of Circulars of Information on 
Higher Education, issued by the United States Bureau of Education under the 
editorship of Herbert B. Adams. ELach State is considered by itself, and each col- 
lege individually. Also, much information is included in Cahori's Teaching and 
History of Mathematics in the United States, and other similar publications of the 
Bureau of Education. 

Three qualified the next year, and to three of those who never qualified, hon- 
orary degrees were generously given in later years. 

* Cf. Newman, loc. cit., p. 263. 

C 13 -\ 



The Early Years of 

ence. One-fourth were university men: from Harvard 
four, from Yale two, from Princeton one. 

The most urgent need was money to meet immediate 
expenses. Accordingly sixty-nine gentlemen were ap- 
pointed to receive subscriptions, not only in the New 
England colonies, but " in the Western part of this Con- 
tinent." It is curious at this day to find that the "wild 
and woolly West'' of 1764 included Baltimore, Phila- 
delphia, and New York. Twenty-three other places 
were specified by name. With prophetic vision. Oyster 
Bay was one. 

Rev. Hezekiah Smith, of Haverhill, collected in 1 769 
about $2500 in the southern colonies, but the largest 
amount was obtained by Morgan Edwards. 

On February 2, 1767, I find the following note in 
the records of our Philadelphia church: *' Mr. Edwards 
applied to the Church for leave to go to Europe to exe- 
cute a commission he hath received from the College 
in Rhode Island; he also informed the Church that he 
had wrote to twelve ministers to supply his place in his 
absence, ten of whom had agreed to his proposal; each 
to officiate a month in his turn, and to be allowed each 
five pounds a month out of Mr. Edwards's salary. The 
Church granted Mr. Edwards leave to go to Europe 
and wish him all success." He carried with him a let- 
ter, undated, but evidently written early in 1767, signed 
by the President and the Chancellor. The signature of 
Stephen Hopkins at this date was quite firm. Two years 
later the lines began to waver, and in 1 776, nine years 
before his death, his well-known signature of the Decla- 
ration was extremely tremulous. 

Edwards, as was his wont, lost no time. '^Detto, 
Jatto" was his motto. Two weeks after this vote he 

c 14 ] 



Brown University 

sailed, and in less than two years had collected =^888 
10.V. ^d. sterling. As he says, he *' succeeded pretty well 
considering how angry the Mother country then was 
with the Colonies for opposing the Stamp Act." 

The manuscript list of the subscribers is in our ar- 
chives. The largest subscribers were the First and Sec- 
ond Presbyterian Churches in Belfast {£is 9s. od. and 
£\^ 15s. 4<d. ). It is interesting to note among the sub- 
scribers Thomas Penn, ^20, Benjamin Franklin, =£10, 
Thomas HoUis, ^10, Dr. John Fothergill, esteemed by 
all doctors, £5 5s. The lowest amounts named are one 
and two shillings. 

Encouraged by these collections, the permanent lo- 
cation of the college and the erection of suitable build- 
ings were now actively discussed. After much rivalry 
and not a little hard feeling, the matter was finally set- 
tled. The college and Manning both moved to Provi- 
dence in May, 1770. 

Why had little Warren ever been selected as the first 
home of the college ? 

The town was named after Admiral Sir Peter War- 
ren, who had cleared the coast of French ships of war 
and thus rendered a great service to Warren, which de- 
pended chiefly on its maritime commerce. In 1 746 it had 
been definitely assigned by the King in Council to Rhode 
Island instead of to Massachusetts. Its population even 
in 1770 was only 979, while Providence had 2958, and 
Newport could boast of 1 1 ,000. Newport was the lead- 
ing town in Rhode Island in commerce and culture as 
well as in inhabitants, was next in size to Boston, and 
had two Baptist churches. 

Swansea was a small inland town about three miles 

c 15 ] 



The Early Years of 

from Warren. Here was a Baptist Church, founded for 
over a century ( 1663). The Swansea, the two New- 
port, and the Providence Baptist churches were all sup- 
plied with pastors. In Warren there were about sixty 
Baptists. They were not organized into a church, but 
evidently the desire for such a church was in their hearts, 
and they had already taken active steps towards found- 
ing it before the plan for a college was first mooted in 
Philadelphia. This intention to found a separate church 
in Warren was doubtless known to the Philadelphia 
Baptists. It was therefore very natural, as the projected 
college had absolutely no funds, that, whatever might 
be its permanent site, it should begin in Warren, where 
the president could be supported by his salary as min- 
ister of the church and also by opening a Latin school. 

The two enterprises — the church and the college — 
went hand in hand. The first step had to do with the erec- 
tion of the meeting-house ; the second and third with the 
college; the next two with the church; the sixth with 
the college; the seventh with both church and college; 
the eighth with the college; the ninth to the twelfth with 
the church, and finally the thirteenth with the college. 

The chronological order of events in detail is as fol- 
lows: 

1st. February, 1762. The collection of building ma- 
terials for a " Meeten house" was begun, as shown by 
bills in the archives of the Warren church. This was 
eight months before Morgan Edwards proposed that a 
college should be founded, a year and eight months be- 
fore the first payment on the lot was made, a year and 
nine months before the Warren church was constituted, 
and almost three years before the date of the deed for 
the lot. Surely they were "forehanded." 

[ 16 ] 



Brown University 

9.d. October, 1762. In the Philadelphia Baptist Asso- 
ciation, the only one then in existence, Morgan Ed- 
wards first mooted the question of a college. 

sd. July, 1763. James Manning, representing a com- 
mittee of the Philadelphia Association,^ visited Newport 
on his way to Halifax, and took the first definite steps 
toward a charter for the proposed college. 

4^/i. October 21,1763. The first payment to the 
"widow Rachel Luen for a Lot of Land for to set 
meten house on." The deed for this lot is dated Janu- 
ary 29, 1 765. The lot was not fully paid for until 1 783, 
twenty years after the first payment and eighteen years 
after the date of the deed.^ 

Sth. February 17, 1764. "The Congregation" (ob- 
serve it is not "the Church") "at Warren gave Rev. 
James Manning a call to come over from New Jersey 
and settle amongst them."^ 

6th. March 2 and 3, 1764. The charter of the college 
was granted. 

^th. April 13 or 14, 1764. James and Mrs. Manning 
(they had been married March 23, 1763) arrived at 
Warren. He began at once to preach to the as yet 
unorganized Baptists and also opened a Latin school.* 

Sth. September 5, 1764. First meeting of the Corpo- 
ration of the college. 

9th. September, 1764. It was agreed to draw up a 
covenant and organize a church. 

10th. October 4, 1764. The Swansea church dis- 
missed twenty-five members to the proposed Warren 
church. 

' Sears, Centennial Discourse, pp. 11,12, and Appendix B, p. 62. 
"^ Archives of the Warren church. * Warren archives. 

* Sears, ofi. cit., p. 17, and Appendix E, p. 71. 

C 17 ] 



The Early Years of 

nth. November 15,1 764. The Warren church was 
solemnly constituted ^ with fifty-eight members,^ all of 
whom assented to the covenant by a rising vote. 

Three of the members then presented a formal calP 
from the now organized "Church" to Mr. Manning. 
He accepted, and was at once installed. The provision 
for his salary is naively indefinite: "As we are of opin- 
ion that they who preach the Gospel should live by 
the Gospel we do here declare our intention to render 
your life as happy as possible by our brotherly conduct 
towards you and communicating our temporal things to 
your necessities so long as God . . . shall continue us 
together." Tustin (pp. 121, 122) says that the church 
"appears to have given him a liberal support." 

1 2 ^/i. November 25, 1764. Manning was dismissed 
from the Scotch Plains church, New Jersey, to the War- 
ren church " of the same faith and order."^ It should be 
observed, however, that the Scotch Plains church still 
clung to the " Laying on of Hands," whereas the War- 
ren church in its original covenant boldly and expressly 
declared "That the Imposition or Non-Imposition of 
Hands upon believers after Baptism is not essential to 
Church Communion."^ This petty controversy was a 
serious bone of contention between the " Five Princi- 
ple " and the " Six Principle " Baptists, and later involved 
Manning and the Providence church in trouble. In the 

^ Bound volume of Warren Church Minutes, p. l;Spalding, Centennial Discourse 
at Warren, November 15, 1864, pp. 13, 14. The original minutes were de- 
stroyed when the church was burned by the British, May 25, 1778. Fortu- 
nately a complete copy down to November 30, 1869, had been made by Mr. John 
Throop and was copied into the Minute Book. 

^ The Church Minutes say twenty-five from Swansea. Tustin, p. 1 1 8, says thirty- 
five, but both agree on fifty-eight as a total number. 

' Tustin, pp. 171-173, gives the full text. 

* Tustin, p. 168, gives the letter in full. ° Tustin, p. 171. 

[ 18 ] 



Brown University 

Warren records, June 28, 1765, is a charmingly frank 
and very charitable note that Sister R. B. had been" bap- 
tized and come under the Imposition of Hands and has 
since walked circumspectly human frailties excepted." 

13th. September 4, 1765. At the second meeting of 
the Corporation, again held in Newport, James Man- 
ning was formally elected President. 

Both enterprises were now completely organized, 
with James Manning at the head of each. This harmo- 
nious cooperation continued until the question of the 
permanent location of the college arose. For the details 
of this rather violent struggle I must refer you to Pro- 
fessor Bronson's History. Suffice it to say that Provi- 
dence finally won the day, and on May 3, 1 770, Man- 
ning went with the college to Providence. 

Let us now look at a few details of conditions at 
Warren during the period from 1764 to 1770. 

The size of the first meeting-house is variously 
given. In a subscription list of 1765 it is described as 
" sixty one feat, width forty fore feat. "This would seem 
to be the most reliable. Tustin says it was about forty- 
four feet square, and Guild, following Morgan Ed- 
wards, says it was forty-four by fifty-two feet.^ It had 
pews, galleries, a turret containing a little bell, called 
the "tobacco bell," as it was paid for by this means, and 
a porch.^ The pulpit was not built until May, 1 765. The 
" gallories " were not finished nor all the " pues " placed 
possibly until 1774, for on February 3, 1772,^ a con- 

Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society, vol. vi, p. 342. 

* Tustin, p. 173, and Guild, following him, say there was no porch, but this is 
presumably wrong, as I found a bill dated May, 1765, in the Warren church 
archives, with an item, "To horse hire and time for going to look for stuf to build 
a porch for the Meten house £6.10.0." 

^ Warren archives. 

C 19 ] 



The Early Years of 

tract was awarded for finishing the *' gallories" and for 
putting in thirty-six "pues." For doing this work the 
contractors were allowed two years. 

In this contract, and therefore presumably in the ear- 
lier ones, the contractors were given the right to sell 
the pews. On April 24, 1765, the proprietors of the 
pews, who had believed that the total sum thus real- 
ized would be sufficient to complete the building, fear- 
ing that it would not be enough, agreed that if this sum 
was insufficient they should pay proportionately such 
sums as would complete it or forfeit their pews. This 
" syndicate'' for " underwriting" the entire cost, as we 
might now call it, was signed by twenty-three persons.^ 

There does not seem to have been any stove. In Mor- 
gan Edwards's various volumes the presence or absence 
of a stove in almost every case is carefully noted; e.g., 
Pennepek had one, but the Philadelphia church had 
not. McMaster ^ thus vividly describes the situation in 
the winter: "Not a meeting house was warmed, not a 
chimney, not a fireplace, not a stove was to be seen." 

The Third Church, Newport, is described by Edwards 
as having pews, galleries, and a *' clock," the only men- 
tion I have seen of this useful monitor. Usually an hour- 
glass was on the pulpit, and its third turning marked the 
minister's final lap. Possibly in Newport they thought 
that the more aggressive suggestiveness of the clock, 
added to the frigidity of the air, might shorten the ser- 
mon by at least one turn of the hourglass in very cold 
weather. One minister, says McMaster,^ " preached in 
a great coat and mittens and complained that his voice 
was drowned by persons stamping . . . their feet to 
keep warm." 

' W^arren archives. ' McMaster, ii, 568. ^ Ibid. 

C 20 ] 



Brown University 

For Dr. Manning and the prospective students^ a par- 
sonage had to be built. This was a large building, costing 
^2534 17^. — an apparently formidable sum, but Pro- 
fessor Bronson informs me that it was "old tenor," and 
so was equivalent to only about ^600. Even that was 
a large sum in those days. 

While examining the old bills and other documents 
in the archives of the Warren church I chanced upon 
some orthographical gems which I must share with 
you. Our forbears, who luckily escaped the many birch- 
ings visited upon their descendants by Noah Webster 
and Lindley Murray, were not satisfied with the dull 
uniformity of a single spelling, but exhibited the vivacity 
which accompanied an unexpected and often startlingly 
variegated orthography. Contemporaneous documents 
of the other early colleges showed an equally liberal 
charity.^ If political independence was desirable, why not 
also orthographical independence .^^ If "Liberty of Un- 
licensed Printing " was good for John Milton, why was 
not "Liberty of Unlicensed Spelling" good for John 
Gano.?^ Accordingly they cut their teeth, as it were, upon 
such simple beginnings as "winder fraims," "dores," 
and "meten hous." These latter provided only a few 
possible variants. When it came to " Parsonage," how-, 
ever, they found a rich field for their cooperative fer- 
tility of invention, and then went "ganz los." I discov- 
ered thirteen new, but all different, ways of spelling this 

^ This is conclusively shown in one bill, April 18, 1768, which mentions "the Col- 
lege chamber." It is also shown by tlie lottery of 1767, referred to later. 

^ See page 10, note 1. 

' See my History of the First Bafitist Church, Philadelfihia, p. 64. Even the 
punctuation, capitalization, and spelling of John Quincy Adams were corrected 
by his colleague, Jonathan Russell, a graduate of Brown in 1 791 , when the Treaty 
of Ghent was being negotiated. (Frederick Trevor HUl, Atlantic Monthly, Au- 
gust, 1914, p. 236.) 

c 2' : 



The Early Years of 

one word, from" passeenage" to" posn eg. "The follow- 
ing will suffice: "parseenage, parsnige, pasanage, pas- 
seage, paisonnag, parsinig, pasneg hous, parsing hous, 
personage, personog, pasonage, posneg, parsnig/'Had 
I made a thorough search, I might possibly have en- 
larged the list to a score, unless indeed their positive 
genius in cacography had exhausted itself. 

Possibly an English annex to the "Latin School" 
might have been useful. 

The prevalence of the unwarranted soft "g" is even 
more marked in a long itemized memorandum of the 
losses of Rev. Charles Thompson, of the class of 1 769 
( who had followed Manning in the pastorate at War- 
ren), for his effects which had been destroyed when 
this parsonage and the church were burned by the Brit- 
ish. Among many "go as you please" spellings I find 
one mysterious "black gug" and two "ginn gugs." 
He does not add the comment "wore some" or "half 
wore," as he does to his shirts and "stockens."^ 

One Martin Luther, however, who emulated his 
namesake of the sixteenth century in overturning es- 
tablished usages, not content with a revolution in spell- 
ing, made additional assaults upon grammar and sobri- 
ety. In a bill dated July 3, 1 764, he provided a new past 
participle for the verb "disburse." It reads: 

Disbusted by Martin Luther to Wordes bulding 
the meeteing hoiis 

960 feete of pine hordes £96. 

106 gallons of rum £254. 

Eroors excepted. 
Paid, 
Martin Luther. 

^ History of Warren, Rhode Island, in the War of the Re-volution, by Virginia 
Baker. Warren, 1901. 

C 22 ] 



Brown University 

It is perhaps too much to hope that there were no 
*'Eroors" in conduct as well as in the account which 
were "excepted." 

The members had not only to wrestle with the prob- 
lem of how to spell as well as to build the parsonage, 
but also how to finance it, for it differed from the church 
in not having any pews which could be sold. In 1767 
they therefore inaugurated a lottery for raising £150 
"lawful money" toward finishing the parsonage house, 
as the students " cannot be accommodated in said house 
in its present condition." Those who bought the tickets 
were very properly called "adventurers." To us such 
a scheme, especially in connection with a church, seems 
very extraordinary. But at this time in England as well 
as in the colonies, and in Rhode Island during exactly 
a century (from 1744 to 1844)/ there was a rage for 
lotteries for almost every purpose — to build meeting- 
houses, wharves, bridges {e.g., the old Weybosset 
bridge in Providence), for opening of streets, for col- 
leges, etc. Thus the First Baptist Church in Providence 
in 1 774 asked for a lottery to raise ^2000 ; in 1 830 and 
1837 there were two lotteries for the Rhode Island 
Historical Society ; in 1 793 the Corporation of Rhode 
Island College petitioned the General Assembly for the 
grant of a lottery of ^4000 for purchasing Dr. Forbes's 
orrery and other articles of philosophical apparatus and 
for the college library, etc.;^ in 1 796 another was asked 
by Brown University for ^25,000, and in 1811 another 
for ^20,000. Harvard and Princeton also were aided by 
lotteries. 

See a most interesting paper by the late Judge Stiness, entitled, "A Century of 
hotteries'inRhodelsland," Rhode Island Historical Tracts, 2d series, No. 3, 1896. 

Newman, loc. cit., pp. 264, 265. 

[ 23 ] 



The Early Years of 

In the archives of the Warren church is the full 
printed proposal for such a lottery, dated November 28, 
1 794, and signed by our old friend Martin Luther ( who 
had " disbusted " certain monies for the meeting-house 
thirty years before) and tvs^o others. I have no doubt 
that Martin Luther and his fellow members would have 
stoutly maintained as a theological dogma that " ye can- 
not serve God and Mammon," but when it came to the 
practical work of building a new meeting-house to re- 
place the one burned by the British, they clearly com- 
bined the two, for the proposal reads as follows: *'As 
this lottery was granted for promoting public worship 
and the advancement of religion we flatter ourselves 
that every well wisher to Society and good order will 
become cheerful adventurers." So far for piety, but 
Mammon now has its inning: "For those who adven- 
ture from motives of gain the scheme is advantageously 
calculated, there being less than two Blanks to a.Prize." 
The italics are in the original. 

As already stated. Manning was elected President at 
the second meeting of the Corporation, September 4, 
1765. His official title exceeded even Holmes's fa- 
mous "settee of professorships," for he was not only 
President but "Professor of Languages and other 
Branches of Learning." It is significant of the feeling 
that the location of the college at Warren was only 
temporary, that this vote continued," with full power 
to act immediately in these capacities at Warren, or 
elsewhere." In 1769, when Howell was elected "Pro- 
fessor of Natural Philosophy," the President's title was 
abridged to Professor of Moral Philosophy. 

One day before there was any President or Faculty, 
the first student was inscribed on the roll of the college 

C 24 ] 



Brown University 

— the first in the long and honored roll which now num- 
bers 7748 names. This first student, whose career we 
shall subsequently follow, was William Rogers, a boy of 
fourteen. For nine months and seventeen days he was 
the only student. On June 20, 1766, Richard Stites in- 
creased the "students" — a plural is now proper — to 
two, while four others entered during November, 1 766. 
In 1768 a seventh student completed the first class, 
who were graduated in 1 769. The charge for tuition was 
twelve dollars per annum. On August 11,1 766, there is 
a receipt in Manning's handwriting for *' three Spanish 
milled dollars," being one quarter's tuition.^ Boarding 
cost a dollar and a quarter a week, single meals six cents. 
Manning's salary as president was much less in evi- 
dence than that as pastor. The income from the funds 
collected by Morgan Edwards in 1 767-68 was pledged 
for this salary. Notwithstanding this, a committee of 
the Corporation, on September 17,1 769, reported that 
the President had served the college for three years 
and had received no compensation, so the sum of ^50 
"lawful money "^ was ordered to be paid to him. This 
would be equivalent to $166.66 in Spanish milled dol- 
lars. The committee very properly stated that in their 
opinion this sum was quite inadequate, and that he 



^ Guild, Brmvn University and Manning, p. 52. 

' Professor McMaster has kindly epitomized for n>e the monetary conditions as 
follows : "The Spanish milled dollar prior to 1640 was rated at four shillings and 
six pence sterling. Later different colonies rated it variously from six shillings to 
eight shillings, so that while in New ELngland the 'pound' was worth $3.33, in 
some of the other colonies it was Avorth as little as $2.50. In 1704 Queen Anne 
issued a proclamation fixing the value of the Spanish milled dollar at six shillings. 
This was 'Proclamation Money' or 'Lawful Money.' Between 1710 and 1740 
Rhode Island issued paper money to be received and paid as of tlie same value 
as current coin. This was ' Old tenor' money. In 1740 ' New tenor' bills were 
issued at six shillings and six pence, and were made equivalent to twenty-seven 
shillings in ' Old tenor.' " 

: 25 : 



The Early Years of 

should not be debarred "from being recompensed in 
a more ample manner whenever it should be in the 
power of the Corporation to do the same/' Fortunately 
the church and the Latin school eked out his living ex- 
penses. In 1772, in a letter to Rev. John Ryland, Man- 
ning states that his salary was ^67 13s. ^d. sterling, or 
about I338. So scrupulous was he that he had always in- 
cluded as a part of this meager salary the five guineas 
sent to him annually by Ryland from England.^ 

The first mention of any library was at the meeting 
of the Corporation in 1 768, when the President was re- 
quested to write to Morgan Edwards, then in London, 
to bring " such books as he shall think necessary at this 
time, not exceeding ^20 value.'' ^ Several of the sub- 
scribers secured by Edwards gave some books. The 
University still has the pine table of WiUiam Williams, 
the drawers of which held the entire library while the 
college was in Warren. 

In 1 769 the first commencement was held in War- 
ren. On August 10, 1769, doubtless in preparation 
for this notable event, a subscription list, headed by 
Manning with twelve shillings, was circulated for re- 
painting the meeting-house " both outside and inside," 
"provided the business be immediately prosecuted." 
On the day before this commencement the Corpora- 
tion voted "That the Meeting House in Warren be 
fitted up at the charge of the Corporation in the best 
manner the shortness of time will permit." 

It was a great day. "Tradition says that a Company 
of Baptist preachers from Georgia rode over a month 

' Guild, Brown University and Manning, p. 192. 
^ Seal's, be. cit., p. 94. 

1 26 : 



Brown University 

on horseback to be there !"^ Apparently the governor 
did not attend this, the only commencement held in 
Warren. 

John Ho wland Ogives a very vivid account of the state- 
hness of the first five commencements in Providence: 
"The Commencements in Providence for the first five 
years were held in Mr. Snow's meeting house, that be- 
ing then the largest in town. Governor Wanton always 
attended from Newport. . . . Escorted by the Company 
of Cadets in showy uniforms, he headed the procession 
with the President. The Governor's wig, which had 
been made in England, was of the size and pattern of 
that of the Speaker of the House of Commons, and so 
large that the shallow crowned hat could not be placed 
on his head without disturbing the curls. He therefore 
placed it under his left arm, and held his umbrella in 
his right hand. This was the first umbrella ever seen 
carried by a gentleman in Providence, though they had 
been some time in use by Ladies on a sunny day. Gov- 
ernor Wanton was the most dignified and respectable 
looking man we had ever seen. The white wig of Presi- 
ident Manning was of the largest dimensions usually 
worn in this country." 

For sixty years to my own knowledge the sheriff' of 
the county of Providence, with his cockade, his broad 
blue sash, and his sword of state, without any deputies, 
has been amply sufficient to preserve " civil peace, good 
order and decorum at Commencement."^ 

Bronson, History of Brcnvn UnwersHy, p. 40. 

° Life and Recollections of John Hmvland, class of 1 835 (hon. ) , who died in 1 854, 
aet. 97, by E. M. Stone, Providence, 1857, p. 159, quoted by Guild, Brcnvri Uni- 
versity and Manning, p. 143. 

^ I inquired of Mr. Stephen O. Edwards as to whether die attendance of tlie 
sheriflF was directed by statute or only resulted from custom. His reply is as 
follows : 

C 27 ] 



The Early Years of 

The first commencement foreshadowed 1775, only 
six years away, for " not only the Candidates but even 
the President was dressed in American manufactures/' 
There were both a morning and an afternoon session, 
and all the seven in the graduating class pronounced 
orations. Such was the avidity for oratory that Mor- 
gan Edwards also preached them a sermon in the even- 
ing. Two of the class debated the question whether 
the Americans could "affect to become an independent 
State." In this " Disputatio forensica " Varnum was a 
warm advocate of American freedom. " Doubtless," he 
says, " we should long since have obtained redress had 
we not been tormented by Worms in our own Bowels," 
z.^. ," Tory s ." ^ Though warmly in favor of our independ- 
ence, his conclusion was that Great Britain could over- 

" I find in the laws of 1798 the following provision: ' And be it further enacted 
that it shall be the duty of the Sheriff of the County of Providence to attend 
the celebration of the Commencement of the University or College in this state 
annually, and to preserve the civil peace, good order and decorum, during the 
same.' 

"In the laws of 1882 this provision reads as follows : ' It shall be the duty of 
the Sheriff of the County of Providence, with so many of his deputies as may be 
necessary (at least four) , to attend the celebration of the annual commencement 
of Brown University in this State and to preserve peace and good order and 
decorum during the same.' 

"The provision stands as foUows in our present laws: 'The sheriff of the 
county of Providence, with as many of his deputies as he may deem necessary, 
shall attend the celebration of the annual commencement of Brown University 
and shall preserve peace and good order and decorum during the same.' " 

Since my text and Mr. Edwards's letter were written I have had the pleasure 
of reading Professor Bronson's History of Brown University. On pages 87 and 139- 
142 will be found interesting details of the disorders at commencement between 
1788 and 1798, owing chiefly to the booths, etc., set up on the grounds of the 
Baptist Meeting-House for the sale of intoxicants, etc. The votes of the Corpo- 
i-ation found expression in the laws above cited. 

Guild, Collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society, vol. vii, pp. 267-298. 
We hardly appreciate how many ' ' Tories ' ' there were. On page 280 Guild states 
that over 1100 Loyalists, or, as they were commonly called, " Torys," left Bos- 
ton with the British army ; and in 1783, when the British army left New York, 
over 30,000 accompanied them. On the other hand, of the 3200 biographies 
of Baptists in Cathcart's Ba/itist Encyclofiaedia, all save one were patriots, 
and this one recanted at a later date (Guild, Brown Uni~uersity and Manning, 
p. 16). 

c 28 : 



Brown University 

whelm us, and that the attempt to form an independent 
state would end in disaster. William Williams, however, 
believed that we could successfully resist Great Britain, 
and ended his speech with the words, in capital letters, 
"AMERICA SHALL BE FREE."^ The Salutatory and the 
" Syllogistic Disputation" were in Latin. (In 1776 one 
oration was in Hebrew. ) Charles Thompson, the vale- 
dictorian, "took a most affectionate leave of his class- 
mates," and the reporter adds," the Scene was tender, 
the Subject felt and the Audience affected." 

Of these first seven graduates, one died in 1 775. Four 
entered the patriot army. Richard Stites was a captain 
and died of wounds in 1 776. James M. Varnum became 
distinguished as a major-general in the army, and later 
at the bar and as a member of Congress. He was able 
to converse in Latin with Blanchard,the quartermaster- 
general of the French forces in Providence. Charles 
Thompson was Manning's successor in the Warren 
church. In 1 778, while on leave from the army, he was 
captured by the British in their raid upon Warren and 
held a prisoner for some weeks. 

William Rogers had a noteworthy career. He was 
pastor of my own church 1772-75, chaplain and later 
brigade chaplain in the army 1776-81, professor of 
oratory and belles-lettres in the University of Penn- 
sylvania for twenty-two years, and a laureate of the 
University of Pennsylvania, of Yale, and of Prince- 
ton. In this same History (page 58 ) I note that among 
his publications is "The Prayer delivered on Saturday 
the 22nd of February, 1800, in the German Reformed 

Quoted by Guild, Brown University and Manning, pp. 83-85. See also a most 
interesting account, with a reproduction of the broadside of 1769, by Winship, 
Brmvn Alumni Monthly, May, 1913. 

[ 29 ] 



The Early Years of 

Church, Philadelphia, before the Pennsylvania Soci- 
ety of the Cincinnate, published by particular request, 
8vo. pp. 12/' I must confess that the patience of the 
" Cincinnate" may well have been exhausted by twelve 
pages of prayer. 

One probably unique incident in his life is thus re- 
corded.^ It is an extract from the records of King's 
Church (now St. John's), Providence, and relates to 
Sunday, June 19, 1782: "At the request of the war- 
dens, the Rev. Mr. William Rogers, a Baptist clergy- 
man, preached in the Church this and the following 
Sunday, and on the 30th of the same month he again 
preached, and the wardens were requested to wait upon 
and thank him for this day's service, and present him 
with the contribution, and ask him to officiate in Church 
next Sunday in his way, provided he cannot conform 
to our liturgy, but if he will conform, the congregation 
invite him further to serve them." The italics are in the 
original. 

Of the other two members of this first class, one 
was a fellow of the University for twenty-nine years, 
a teacher, and a pastor. The seventh died about 1785. 

But if the graduating class was small, the number of 
honorary degrees — twenty-two — was large , over three 
times the number of degrees in course. Of these, seven 
are curiously stated to have received their degree " at 
their own request." They were all college men, three 
from Harvard, two from Princeton, and one each from 
Yale and the University of Pennsylvania. Fourteen 
were " well recommended by the Faculty for literary 
merit;" four of these were college men. One of the 

' Updike, History of the Efiiscofial Church in JVarragansett, Rhode Island, etc., 
1st ed., 1847, 2d ed., 1907, vol. ii, pp. 188, 189. 

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Brown University 

twenty-two, Henry Ward, was accidentally omitted 
from both lists by the reporter. Six of the twenty-two 
were clergymen in Great Britain. Among the Ameri- 
cans were David Howell, the second member of the 
Faculty, Joseph Wanton, the deputy governor, and 
four clergymen, staunch early friends of the college, 
Morgan Edwards, Samuel Jones, Hezekiah Smith, 
and Samuel Stillman. 

Master of Arts was the only honorary degree con- 
ferred until 1 784, when Stephen Hopkins was given an 
LL.D. In 1 786 Granville Sharp, the philanthropist and 
founder of the Society for the Abolition of Slavery, was 
similarly honored. The next year the same degree was 
given to Jefferson; in 1790, to Washington; in 1792, 
to Hamilton; and in 1797, to John Adams. In 1840 
Benjamin Franklin — not the original philosopher but 
an Episcopal clergyman — was graduated with an A.B. 

In the broadside or programme of the first commence- 
ment one very significant sentence appears, but in small 
type: "Nomina alphabetice disposita sunt." In the older 
colleges a different practice had prevailed. '* In all the 
Harvard College catalogs previous to 1773," says Sib- 
ley, *' the graduates . . . are arranged not in alphabeti- 
cal order, but according to their social position or fam- 
ily rank.^ Judge Wingate, writing to Librarian Peirce 

' See W. C. Lane, The Rebellion of 1766, in Harvard College, p. 41, footnote; 
Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 1906, vol. x. Kingsley, in 
his History of Yale College, vol. i, pp. 95, 96, says, "In 1768 the names were for 
the first time arranged in alphabetical order. Before this the names had been 
arranged according to the rank in society which it was supposed their fathers 
held; and according to Dr. Woolsey, one of the most severe punishments con- 
sisted in placing a student on the list, in consequence of some offence, below the 
rank to which his father's condition would assign him, thus declaring that he had 
disgraced his family. Dr. Woolsey tells the story of a shoemaker's son who, when 
questioned as to the quality of his father, replied tliat he was 'upon the bench,' 
which gave him of course a high place." 

C 31 ] 



The Early Years of 

respecting the excitement which was generally called 
up when a class in college was * placed,' says 'the schol- 
ars were often enraged beyond bounds for their disap- 
pointment, and it was some time before a class could 
be settled down to an acquiescence in the allotment/ 
The higher part of the class, those whose names came 
first in the earlier catalogs, generally had the most in- 
fluential friends ; and they commonly had the best cham- 
bers in college assigned them. They also had a right to 
help themselves first at the table in commons. 'I think,* 
Judge Wingate concludes, 'that the government of 
the college, in my day, was a complete aristocracy/"^ 
A practice similar to this prevailed when families were 
seated in church. In the list of scholars at Harrow in the 
eighteenth century, "Mister" always signified the son 
of a peer.^ Democratic, liberty-loving Rhode Island in 
this simple and inconspicuous word,"alphabetice," re- 
echoed the new note for democracy and liberty sounded 
by Yale a year earlier. But we took this stand at our 
very first possible opportunity, that is, at the very first 
commencement. 

The date of the annual meeting of the Corporation 
was fixed by the charter on the first Wednesday in 
September, " at which or at any other time the Public 
Commencement may be held and celebrated." Com- 
mencement from the beginning until 1870, eleven 
years after I graduated, was always held on the first 
Wednesday in September. This was most inconvenient 
for the students, and a severe tax on the resources of 
not a few. The college work ended in June, and to com- 

^ Guild, Brown University and Manning pp. 89, 90. 

' Bruce, William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, April, 
1914, p. 249. 

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Brown University 

pel men to come back three months later simply to re- 
ceive their "sheepskins'' was a hardship. Moreover, it 
was equally inconvenient for the people of Providence, 
especially as the summer vacations grew longer and 
longer and people returned to the city later and later. 
Finally, in 1870, the date of commencement was 
changed to the third Wednesday in June.^ 

At the second meeting of the Corporation ( 1 765 ) it 
was directed that a seal be prepared, but a copperplate 
for diplomas was not ordered until September, 1773. 
Possibly this was partly due to the odious Stamp Act, 
for, said Senator La Fayette S. Foster, speaking at the 
centennial dinner: "Lord Grenville, the Chancellor of 
the Exchequer, in March, i 764, . . . gave notice in 
Parliament that he would apply the stamp act to the 
colonies, and that stamp act imposed a tax even upon 
college diplomas."^ Meantime the diplomas were evi- 
dently written, for Manning, in a letter to Rev. John 
Ryland on November 12, 1772, says that the college 
had conferred an A.M. on Ryland's son, "but through 
my hurry and absence from home since Commence- 
ment I have not got his diploma written."^ 

* In 1851 commencement was held in July, but after two years' trial was again 
held in September until 1870, when it was permanently changed to June. (GuUd, 
Brmun University and Manning, p. 347.) 

At Harvard the first commencement was held on October 22, 1642, the second 
in September, 1 643 . During the rest of the seventeenth and most of the eighteenth 
centuries it was held on the second Saturday in August. For the first half of the 
nineteenth century the date was the last Wednesday in August. In 1849 it was 
changed to July, and in 1869 to the fourth Wednesday in June. 

At Yale the date was the second or third Wednesday in September down to 
1831; from 1832 to 1850 in August, usually the third Wednesday orlTiursday; 
from 1851 to 1872 in July; from 1873 to 1880 on the Thursday after the last 
W^ednesday in June; from 1880 to 1908 on the last W^ednesday in June. In 1909 
the date was fixed on the next to the last Wednesday in June. 

Centennial Celebration, p. 168. 

GuUd, Brown University and Manning, p. 191. 



The Early Years of 

When the college was moved to Providence, Man- 
ning reopened his Latin school, which later became 
the University Grammar School. He was immediately 
invited to preach for the First Baptist Church and soon 
after became its pastor. 

The second commencement ( 1 770 ) was held in 
Mr. Snow's meeting-house, and notwithstanding the 
reported "decorum'' that prevailed, the Corporation 
were obliged to pay for breakages of windows, etc., 
owing to the throng. "The members of the Grammar 
School joined in the procession. Before the assembly 
broke up a piece from Homer was pronounced by Mas- 
ter Billy Edwards [[son of Morgan Edwards], one of 
the Grammar School boys not nine years old."^ 

Poor Billy Edwards ! ^ 

Four students only were graduated, one of whom, 
Theodore Foster, attained prominence as a United 
States senator, judge, and antiquary. But the Fellows 
kept up the pace set the year before in the matter of 
honorary degrees. This ratio in 1 769 was three for one, 
and in 1 770, with four graduates, they gave the honor- 
ary A.M. to twelve men, of whom seven were English- 
men. Only one of the twelve ( Benjamin West ) achieved 
any distinction. 

In the bill of Nicholas Brown &Co.^ for the expenses 
incurred in building University Hall and the President's 
house in 1770, several items are of interest. 



^ Guild, Brown University and Manning, pp. 164, 165. 

"^ Ryland (Guild, Brmvn University and Manning, p. 173) states that his son 
"rendered his Greek Testament into English all through before he was nine 
years old and at nineteen is very ready at Hebrew, Latin and French." What 
cruel drudgery for children ! It may weU have disgusted them with the Bible. 

' Guild, Brown University and Manning, pp. 153-155, quotes a number of 
items from this bill. 

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Brown University 

At the meeting of the Corporation (held, be it ob- 
served, at 7 a.m.), at the time of the very successful 
first commencement in September, 1769, a committee 
was appointed to buy a site in Bristol county ( in which 
Warren was situated) and erect a building. This 
aroused a lively opposition in other counties against 
Warren as the permanent location. A special meeting 
of the Corporation was held at Newport, November 
14 to 16. Professor Bronson's History gives the details. 
Suffice it to say that the Corporation rescinded the 
vote in favor of Warren, and directed that the building 
committee " do not proceed to procure any other ma- 
terials . . . excepting such as may easily be transported 
to any other place," if such place be selected before 
January 1 , 1 770. It was then explicitly voted " that the 
College edifice be at Providence," upon the condition 
that the subscription of Providence be larger than that 
of Newport or of any other county. 

Another special meeting for final action was called 
in Warren for February 7, 1770. The debate on the 
location was evidently conducted in public, for it was 
before "a crowded audience." It was also very long 
and very heated. The discussion lasted from ten o'clock 
Wednesday morning until ten o'clock Thursday night, 
when finally Providence won over Newport by twenty- 
one to fourteen votes. The decision turned upon the 
amount of the respective subscriptions. Moses Brown ^ 
confesses that, as at first computed, Newport exceeded 
the subscriptions of Providence "land and all." The 
word "land " throws light on certain items in the bill 
of Nicholas Brown & Co., for on January 1 , 1 770 ( over 
a month before the final vote in favor of Providence 

Guild, Brown University and Manning, p. 123. 

c 35 : 



The Early Years of 

was taken ) ,are the following items : ( i ) Three persons 
(only one of whom, Joseph Brown, was a member of 
the Corporation ) were sent to Cambridge " to view the 
Colleges." Their total expenses were £^ 3s. 8^d. ( 2 ) 
Five shillings and three pence were voted for the hire 
of horses to go seven miles " to purchase the lot for the 
College; "and ( 3 ) three shillings and seven pence were 
paid for a horse and ferriage in going to Rehoboth " to 
contract for brick. "While the entries are all dated Janu- 
ary 1 , 1 779, they were clearly for services rendered at 
various times before that date. Evidently, therefore, the 
Providence people had faith that the ultimate decision 
would be in their favor. 

As an illustration of the habits of the time, some 
other items also in this bill are of interest. On June 19, 
1770, an entry reads one shilling and six pence "for 
one pail to carry water to drink in." This pail, how- 
ever, I fear did not suffer from over-use, for from that 
same date, June 19, to July 18, just twenty-six days ex- 
cluding Sundays, thirty-six^ items appear for "West 
India rum," "good rum," "very good rum," or "old 
rum." When the president's house was "raised" the 
rum was sweetened with sugar. The laying of each 
floor of University Hall and the raising of the roof 
were rewarded by sweetened rum. The well-diggers 
were especially favored, for twenty-four of the thirty- 
six items were for them, and when they actually " found 
the spring" the Chancellor, Stephen Hopkins, himself 
ordered an extra half gallon. 

But I have lingered too long over the details of this 
interesting though brief period of our history. Looking 

^ See original bill in the University archives. 

C 36 ] 



Brown University 

back over all these six years of almost disheartening 
struggle, what lesson should we learn? 

The honored, yea, revered founders of this Univer- 
sity were men of heroic mold. Undaunted by the many 
obstacles blocking their pathway, they fearlessly grap- 
pled with them all and overcame them all. They builded 
into meeting-house and parsonage, and Latin school and 
college, their own rugged character and determination 
to succeed, and what is more they did succeed. They 
have been splendidly seconded by their successors. 
Witness the fair "College sur la Colline," and witness 
its worthy fruitage in private culture and character, 
in public service to church and state, to industry and 
invention, to literature, education, theology, medicine, 
and law, and to honorable commercial life. 

The little seed planted by Morgan Edwards, watered 
and watched over by James Manning, has grown to 
be a stately tree, whose branches have sheltered every 
creed, whose fruit has nourished six generations of 
brave men and women who have helped to build, to 
preserve, to instruct, and to develop this nation; who 
have carried the Gospel to the ends of the earth ; who 
have taught us to live not by bread alone, but by the 
things of the spirit. These are the things that elevate 
and ennoble character, and Brown University has ever 
set on high these real and eternal verities of God. 



029 919 



Hollinger 

pHe 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS^ 



029 919 1271 



HoUinger Corp. 

pH 8.5 



